To enjoy 5G we need several things to be accomplished at the same time. The first is to be a customer of an operator that offers these services (in Spain: Movistar, Orange, Vodafone and Yoigo). The second is to be in a 5G coverage area since the deployment is still very green and the scope of the service is limited. The third thing we need is to have a mobile that is compatible with 5G. That should be enough, except in a few exceptions. From Movistar they tell us how we can verify that our SIM card is compatible with 5G or if we need to change the card in a store.
Movistar already has 5G coverage in 1,253 municipalities at the end of the first quarter of the year, that is, as of March 31, 2021. The operator already has 80% 5G coverage in Spain with more than 4,300 installed nodes. It all started in September last year and, thanks to technologies like DSS, they have been able to reach this level of coverage in such a short time. We have 5G coverage in all autonomous communities either with 5G NSA (Non Stand Alone) or DSS (Dynamic Spectrum Sharing). We hope that the rollout of 5G SA (Stand Alone) will begin soon.
Is your SIM compatible with 5G?
One of the doubts that arose years ago was related to the compatibility of SIM cards with the new technology that was to arrive. In fact, with the arrival of 4G it was necessary to replace some of these older cards, but it seems that almost all of those in use are compatible. Companies such as Ericsson or China Mobile confirmed that the current SIMs (2019 statements) were compatible with the new 5G networks.
Today, Movistar has given us more details on how to access 5G from mobile. As we have already explained in the introduction, it is necessary to know if the smartphone we have is compatible and, on the other hand, if the SIM card supports 5G . Finally, it will be necessary to check the coverage to see what is available in our area.
To find out if the SIM card we have is compatible with 5G, we must be connected to the mobile network (not WiFi) and dial the following number on our mobile accompanied by the call key:
* # 102 # + call key
Movistar customers will see a result with “a series of data such as: 68392 P54 4G 64 KB” . The operator confirms that if the legend 4G is included in that message, the SIM card does support both 4G and 5G. Otherwise, it will be necessary to change the SIM for a more modern one at an authorized dealer or store.
For security reasons, the duplicate card is only given to the line holder or a person authorized by him. The price of the duplicate is 14.5 euros VAT included . All the cards sold in our stores are “triple cut”, that is, compatible with SIM, MicroSIM or NanoSIM.